Artist in Residence in Middle East
My Letter to Future Goers
What to say? My two years have come and gone, and I find myself back in the States for a few months before I head back to my host country for a new two year commitment. Despite having multiple debrief sessions and lots of conversations with family and friends, I still find myself at a loss for words when it comes to summing up the past two years! When people ask, "so how was Turkey?" I stutter out some reply about it being good and usually end with a joke to cover up my lack of knowing what to say. It was good. hard. exciting. uncomfortable. stretching. life-changing. It was life! Obviously... Read moreWasteland
Here it is, mid-January, and I'm finally having a chance to reflect on the past year! It's crazy to think of all the ups and downs the past year has brought! This time last year, I was just digging into my second class of Turkish, just learning the accordion, just starting to feel comfortable with everyone on my team, and overall still in the "honeymoon" state of culture-shock. Over the last year, I've gone through phases of loving everything, to not understanding why they do things that way here, to loving all the perks of living in a big city, to being excited to tour just to get out of the... Read more
Seasick, Sunburnt, and Sweaty
At a recent conference with my company, there was an opportunity to take an afternoon boat tour. In the heat of June, this sounded like a great idea! A chance to soak up some sun, go swimming off the boat, and see some beautiful waterfalls ~ all for the convenient price of 20 TL! So about thirty of us signed up, took a bus ride and a walk out to the pier and climbed onto a rickety two-level boat. Well, the first twenty minutes were great! I sat on the top deck, holding onto the rail and laughing with the rest of the group as the boat got started and we swayed with the waves. The afternoon was... Read more
The Cycle of Grace
Having been in the field just over four months, one of the biggest lessons God has been teaching me is just how much a wretched sinner I am! I suppose that might sound funny coming from a worker. Often there is this sense that those of us involved in fulltime ministry are somehow super-Christians, incapable of sinning. That's nonsense of course, but still there's this feeling that somehow I should be better at being a Christian, loving people, not getting angry, being patient... But the whole process of moving to a new place and culture acts as a pressure cooker situation where stress is high... Read more